In two of its recent blog posts, Hard Drive Recovery Group discusses the ease of data recovery in most instances of data loss and also discusses a very powerful disk tool for Windows called PowerShell. The posts continue the data recovery service’s dedication to customer education in the realm of hard drives, solid state drives and data protection.

In the post, “Recovering Data From A Hard Drive Can Be Easy, According To Study”, Hard Drive Recovery Group discusses options in cases of data loss. While a catastrophic hard drive failure can seem like an absolutely devastating situation (or even worse for those that need RAID data recovery) for most businesses and consumers, the fact is that there are certainly a few different avenues to take in order to recover the data on the drive. It also talks about the fact that many people simply assume that using a free data recovery software is going to be the source of data salvation.

“One of the dirty little secrets of the data recovery software industry is that some of the applications out there actually damage the ability of a person to recover their data,” said Maureen Davies, spokesperson for Hard Drive Recovery Group. “There tends to be a lot of calls from customers who first try to recover their files with a data recovery software, fail, and then call a data recovery service. The issue is that this often increases the cost of what originally might have been a very basic data recovery service.”

Data recovery software typically comes without a warranty in order to protect the developer. But, this can often lead to a lack of accountability, particularly with Mac computers. Meanwhile, if a hard drive has actually physically failed, these products are all but useless.

“Hard Drive Recovery Group always offers a free over the phone evaluation to all potential customers with data loss issues of any kind,” said Davies. “Certainly there is no obligation, and to be able to pick the brain of a very experienced data recovery engineer is hugely helpful to most people, particularly if they have very little hard disk experience.”

In a second post, entitled, “Use PowerShell To Look Up Disk Information”, the company talks about Windows PowerShell, an application that allows more experienced users to call up information about a hard disk that can be helpful for diagnosis. This is an entirely free application that is built in to almost any version of Windows, and can clarify a lot for users.

“While it may seem very technically difficult, the Windows PowerShell can provide a lot of information that not only helps the customer, but any technician that may be working with a hard drive,” said Davies. “A lot of customers tend to get squeamish when they first see the old school DOS-like interface of the PowerShell, but its ease of use is quite remarkable.”

While tools like PowerShell can be helpful in diagnosing a failed or crashed hard drive, particularly when it comes to secondary drives, the tool is mainly informational in nature. But, it can provide a clue that savvy customers can work with to assess where they should focus their attention when it comes to data loss, even with RAID array setups.

“In essence, the more informed a customer is about the condition of their hard drive, the more likely they are to understand what kind of service or software they should be looking for,” said Davies. “This certainly doesn’t provide any specific data recovery processes per se, but it does offer rock solid information. And in the end, as with anything, the more informed a data recovery customer is, the more satisfied he or she is going to be!”